posted
So a DJ in St. Louis is describing why he thinks Condoleezza Rice would make a good commissioner in the NFL (a job she has said she wants some day and one that is reported coming open in the next few months).
The text is below. He tries to say that hiring her would be a big coup for the league, but says coon. I haven't been able to download the audio, but all reports seem to indicate that he was serious in his show of respect for her as a candidate and he immediately apologized. He was fired (basically immediately) and fired from his other job as a college instructor.
If I was Condi (and everything pointed to it being a true slip) then I would take a full page add in the St. Louis paper saying I appreciate the DJs support and wonder why a person that was obviously paying me a compliment was fired for doing so.
********************************************* "She's been chancellor at Stanford. I mean she's just got the patent resume of somebody that's got some serious skill," Lenihan said, according to a recording provided by KTRS. "She loves football. She's African-American, which would kind of be a big coon. . . ."
"'A big coon?' Oh my god," Lenihan said during the morning broadcast. "I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that. OK? I didn't mean that. That was just a slip of the tongue." **********************************************
Posts: 317 | Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
Did he mean to say "con"? If so, why would it be a con for the NFL commissioner to be black, since so many of the players are?
Posts: 781 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Sounds like he was going to say "boon". But for him to have said "coon" instead... I don't know how that could not have been freudian. In my whole life, I doubt I have ever even said that word. Unless you say it a lot, how could it possibly slip?
I think I would have to hear the guys tone of voice when he said it in order to pass judgement. At this point (from my very limited information), I'm not convinced it was accidental.
Edit: Ah, he was trying to say "coup", not boon. Of course, if his brain slipped and he combined the two words, that could explain how it could be an accident. I do that sort of thing all the time.
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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I never saw you here before. I feel like we are related.
As for the on air personality...I would have suspended him and waited for a response from either Rice or the African American community. If there was going to be backlash, then I would have fired him--even thinking those words shows some degree of racism that would hurt a public company.
However, people may have forgiven him or even appreciated he was truly regretful for what he said. Sometimes having a humble and penitent person does more for progress then someone who doesn't slip up.
Posts: 2445 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
mph, "coon" is southern slang for "african american" and is considered only slightly less derogatory than the "n-word"
It sounds like the second quote was in response to someone in his crew pointing out what he had just said.
Posts: 121 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
I also want to here the audio. But everything indicates he was being genuine in his compliment. If, after investigation, it is determined that he was really supporting the Rice as a candidate for a job that is dominated by white males, it would be the height of idiocy to treat him as a bigot.
Posts: 317 | Registered: Sep 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Primal Curve: The "not" in the title seems superfluous.
Would you think the not was superflous if he wrote it as a contraction: "Doesn't intent matter?"
Since I don't know the DJ or anything about his personality or attitudes, and also did not hear the statement, I can't comment on intent. But what dem said makes sense to me. Slips of the tongue do happen, and they're not always Freudian.
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Does anyone know a place to download a clip of that show? It would be really helpful to actually hear it in context.
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:"'A big coon?' Oh my god," Lenihan said during the morning broadcast. "I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that. OK? I didn't mean that. That was just a slip of the tongue."
Would anyone have noticed his slip if he hadn't pointed it out? And if they had, wouldn't they assume they had heard wrong?
Posts: 364 | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
Howard Cossell was not the same thing, at all. He said, "Look at the little monkey run." HC said exactly what he tried to say, but did not realize that it was objectionable.
www.stltoday.com/ has a download but I haven't been able to get to it (server must be busy today!).
Posts: 317 | Registered: Sep 2001
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quote:Cosell drew criticism during one Monday Night Football telecast in September 1983, for calling a wide receiver for the Washington Redskins, Alvin Garrett, a "little monkey." While some saw the term as having a racial connotation, many who knew Cosell were quick to point out that he used this term routinely in an approving way to describe quicker, smaller players of all ethnicities. Among the evidence to support this claim is video footage of a 1972 preseason game, between the New York Giants and the Kansas City Chiefs, that features Cosell referring to Mike Adamle, a 5-foot-9-inch, 197-pound Caucasian, as a "little monkey".
It should be noted also that he wasn't fired. He finished the season but didn't return the next year, although the failure to return may or may not have been voluntary.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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